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― FTSE 100 index― Vodafone Group
May 2010April 2009
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Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2010 3
Geographic diversity
Wide portfolio of operations including developed and
emerging markets.
In emerging markets growth prospects remain positive.
We now have over 100 million customers in our key
Indian market.
One of the benefits of our broad spread of operations in both
developed and emerging markets is the diversification of risk that this
allows. The Board keeps a close watch on this portfolio of investments,
particularly those where we do not exercise management control. In
Verizon Wireless we have an outstanding asset whose value has
increased substantially over recent years, and SFR has secured a
strong market position and provided good dividends. The Board
reviews these investments regularly and will remain focused upon the
best way of realising maximum shareholder value.
The impairment of our investment in Vodafone Essar in India was a
major disappointment to the Board. It results from an intense price war,
triggered by the unprecedented and unforeseeable entry of six new
competitors into the Indian market. Our operational performance in
India however remains strong and we remain confident in the long-
term prospects for the Indian market. We recently passed a very
important milestone, with Vodafone Essar now having more than 100
million customers – one of only five national mobile operators in the
world to have reached this scale, reflecting strong growth from 28
million customers when we acquired control of Vodafone Essar in May
2007. Elsewhere in the emerging markets, the operational turnaround
of our company in Turkey has yielded very positive results and we have
seen good progress in Ghana.
Your Board
This year we conducted an evaluation on the effectiveness of the
Board and its Committees aided by the external advisors MWM
Consulting. They concluded that the Board was effective, had the right
composition and skills and was generally performing well. More detail
is contained at page 48 of this report.
Simon Murray, who has been a non-executive Director since July 2007,
has decided to step down from the Board after this year’s AGM.
His knowledge of telecommunications, entrepreneurial spirit, and
experience of the Asia Pacific region have been great assets to the
Board, and I am grateful for the contribution he has made.
The Vodafone Foundation
The Vodafone Foundation supports communities and societies
in the countries in which we operate.
Vodafone invested a total of £42 million in foundation
programmes and social causes.
We have continued to fund the work of the Vodafone Foundation.
Through the Vodafone Foundation and our network of national affiliate
foundations we support communities and societies in the countries in
which we operate. In this financial year we invested a total of £42 million
in foundation programmes and social causes, and our World of
Difference programme enabled 604 people to take paid time to work
for a charitable purpose of their choice in their own community or in a
developing country. Across the Group we have also put in place
mechanisms to make it easy for our customers to give money to support
charitable appeals following disasters. After the Haiti earthquake,
Vodafone foundations donated £0.3 million to the emergency relief and
reconstruction effort, and we helped our customers in 14 countries to
give a total of £4.7 million by text message.
Summary
On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all Vodafone staff around
the world for the great efforts they have made in the past year in such
challenging economic conditions. Vodafone would not have been able
to deliver these results without the tremendous effort of the team.
The Board is heartened by your Company’s strong results especially in
the face of such a sharp economic downturn. It believes that the Group
is well positioned to benefit from economic recovery and looks to the
future with confidence.
Sir John Bond
Chairman
Executive summary
Vodafone +13% FTSE 100 +39%
Total shareholder return April 2009 to May 2010
Vodafone share price vs FTSE 100
Proportionate mobile
customers
341.1m
up 12.7%